IRAQ: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki encourages national investment in oil sector
Record ID:
345558
IRAQ: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki encourages national investment in oil sector
- Title: IRAQ: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki encourages national investment in oil sector
- Date: 21st February 2010
- Summary: BASRA, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 20, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HEADQUARTER OF BASRA GOVERNORATE/ CARS PARKED OUTSIDE SIGN READING "BASRA GOVERNORATE" AUDIENCE AND IRAQI OFFICIALS SEATED INSIDE BASRA GOVERNORATE IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI WRITING NOTES MALIKI ADDRESSING AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI, SAYING: "We will never sign any oil agreements with foreign companies but we will work on developing our national companies. It is true that they are not developed and passed through difficult times but we must re-consider the work of our oil companies to take over the process of development, extraction, export and all oil operations and with high efficiency even if this takes 10 years." MALIKI SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQ'S PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI SAYING: "The problem that we will face is when international companies (oil companies) come to Iraq and pay high salaries. In this case we will not be able to develop our companies and all the oil competencies will work with the international companies. This move will collapse the national companies and lead them to be prisoners of the international companies, so we need to develop the services of employees of Iraq's oil companies and not only in the South Oil company so that we will be able to keep our cadres, competencies and prevent them from leaving for the world oil companies." AUDIENCE/ MALIKI SPEAKING
- Embargoed: 8th March 2010 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Energy
- Reuters ID: LVA9TC0IICSOGYRXWVACO8304C0D
- Story Text: In a move aimed at supporting national investment in its oil sector, Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Saturday (February 20) that Iraq will not sign oil agreements with foreign companies in future.
After meeting officials in Basra as part of his election campaign, Maliki stressed the need to develop Iraq's national companies rather than relying on the help of foreign companies.
"We will never sign any oil agreements with foreign companies but we will work on developing our national companies. It is true that they are not developed and passed through difficult times but we must re-consider the work of our oil companies to take over the process of development, extraction, export and all oil operations and with high efficiency even if this takes 10 years," Maliki said.
Maliki said that Iraq should work on protecting the employees of domestic oil companies by increasing their salaries.
"The problem that we will face is when international companies (oil companies) come to Iraq and pay high salaries, in this case we will not be able to develop our companies and all the oil competencies will work with the international companies. This move will collapse the national companies and lead them to be prisoners of the international companies, so we need to develop the services of employees of Iraq's oil companies and not only in the South Oil company so that we will be able to keep our cadres, competencies and prevent them from leaving for the world oil companies," Maliki added.
Iraq has signed a number of oil deals with world oil firms, following two oil contract auctions last year that have the potential to take Iraqi capacity to 12 million barrels per day (bpd) -- rivalling top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia -- from 2.5 million bpd now.
Royal Dutch Shell owns 60 percent of the venture, with Malaysia's state-run Petronas holding the rest. The companies proposed a remuneration fee of $1.39 per barrel and a plateau production target of 1.8 million bpd compared with current output of just under 50,000 bpd.
Shell officials have said the companies would invest "tens of billions" of dollars over the life of the deal and that work would start immediately once the final contract was signed. Iraq expects to produce an additional 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil this year after it signed a series of deals with oil majors, the country's oil minister told Reuters on Thursday.
Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani also said that new floating terminals will help raise Iraq's export capacity by more than 2 million bpd by the middle of 2011.
Iraq aims to install four new floating oil terminals and three new undersea oil pipelines that will boost export capacity to 8 million barrels per day from a current 1.9 million bpd, the head of Iraq's South Oil Co. (SOC) said in November.
Iraq, in desperate need for cash to rebuild its battered economy after years of war and sanctions, has struck a series of development contracts with global oil majors that could transform it into a top oil producer.
On Wednesday (February 17), the South Oil Co. along with partners BP and CNPC, invited 10 firms to drill 56 new wells in Rumaila. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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